Construction on the planet Coruscant changed over the years.
It started normally enough, until the planet lost all available surface to buildings. Then came the planning years, where advancements in modeling and schematics allowed new patterns to be used.
No longer was design focused on ideas or inspiring emotion, construction began to focus on stability. On structural support.
On becoming a foundation.
Years of construction slowly converted the lower levels into a foundation for the next wave of development. Collapses and failures not only taught valuable lessons but became the bedrock for further solidity and support.
It took time. Lifetimes. Layer after layer, the planet slowly grew upwards towards the heavens. Towards a new path.
History happened here.
Lives spawned, grew, aged, and died on this land. And their children and grand children did as well, even if on higher levels.
As civilization grew upwards, wildlife and such grew downwards into the dark tunnels and collapsed structures hidden below.
Instead of life living side by side, they began to live above and below. Nature found a way, the Force found a path.
Memories grew here, in the dark. They gathered. Time passed, and thoughts changed, but even as the planet grew and changed, the dark and depths did the same.
The Temple had existed for a long, long time. Halls and rooms filled with men, women, insects, androids, raiders, defenders, and oh so many constructors and planners, builders and refugees.
Power forced the abstract memories from thousands of dead warriors and diplomats to join the halls they once walked, to rest in the rooms they once meditated in, to watch the memories of stars they once flew through.
Structure. Order. The white Light of the Force felt the rigid memories of so many past Jedi and followers and visitors, people searching long ago for self reflection, for peace, for understanding, for something more.
And the Light rejoiced.
Within these same walls that began to burn with white energy, the dark shadows twisted as well. Free to flow as they pleased between the white barriers and slip out to the night and shadows as they willed, the shackles of Order could not pierce the Light that sang in the halls.
From these unseen crevasses and shadowed niches the black absence of the Dark raged, hunted, and watched. When attacks arrived, the Light itself created paths of shadow for the Dark to reach out and gnash and gnarl and consume.
And the Dark rejoiced.
Together, the Light protected and rebuilt and pulled from the knowledge of the living and dead that lived in these halls, that worshiped the Light as a guide and mentor. The Dark destroyed the unwanted and unneeded, opening paths for the Light to rebuild things as they should be, and basked in the raw emotions that festered in the hearts of the living as it stood as seducer and lover for those who could handle its passion.
The web of the Dark, tainted by Order, unwound as it touched those walls. The Light drew the Order easily while the Dark escaped into the dark hidden depths within.
The Temple felt more focused and more alive as time passed, white eyes watching the outsiders fear to enter and black mouth hungering to consume those foolish enough to come near with ill intentions.
Adam was likely wise to fear the Temple growing without restrictions, especially considering how outraged the Force was in general towards the Dark Masters and their followers... but he was both lucky and not in this situation.
For the Temple had no desire to expand to the buildings nearby. As a building the Temple already was larger than most of the US states it could see from Adam's memories when she awoke. Even as she began to redesign her upper levels to become a more powerful defender, her main focus was on the Force, the memories of Light and Dark, and the vast temples of faith and the many rooms and facilities that helped those young people find their own path.
Gardens were being moved, expanded, and reshaped. Meditation areas that focused on growth, on isolation, of the Dark, of the Light, on passion, on apathy... a pattern derived from her most inner depths rebuilt and reformed even as loud snaps and screams of metal terrified the surrounding soldiers during the reconstruction process. She burned and decayed and grew and rebuilt.
Each change, each movement that encouraged chaos and order to flow as they would, each improvement that was formed from the Universe and the Force itself, allowed her to awaken more, to feel more alive.
She was one with the Force, and the Force was with her.
The boundaries of the Temple began to glow with faint energy, the Light forming metals that never existed and the Dark forming substances within that should never be touched. Walls that protected those within rose in dancing patterns, while Walls that protected those without filled the gaps to prevent the moronic and evil from committing suicide by intrusion.
But her many thousands of eyes were not only focused on the growing desperation of the many soldiers at her new gates, nor was she envious of the available territory she could claim around her.
For she watched her Master guide a serpent of magic and child innocence deep inside her toward the city below... and something inside felt she should reach downwards as well.
White flames with black hunger began consuming into the depths.
Layer after layer shifted, became even more sturdy, more supportive, a foundation for her and her beliefs. Hidden libraries began to be brought together, artifacts of Light and Dark were found, analyzed, and carefully moved to a central secured location. Her reach shifted the past and ensured her future.
And as she became taller and taller, as her reach fell lower and lower, her mind improved. And the memories... The cries of anguish, the joys of life, the tears of loss, the squeals of success... the heavy tapestry of life wove in her heart as the Force fed her centuries of half lost thoughts, dreams, experiences.
So much lost... so many who strove to expand their very existence, towards the Light or the Dark, and all those struggles forgotten like ashes in the wind.
She gazed at her tiny library, both written and digital, barely a fraction of the knowledge this Temple had helped to nurture over the eons. A drop from a forgotten ocean.
This would not stand.
She blinked when a blue feather floated in the center of the library, along with a white peanut.
When her white flame consumed both, the process of raw data creation, manipulation, and storage suddenly felt instinctual. This... yes.
Fractions of souls that had fought demise due to disgust at their dreams being forgotten surged to the forefront. Light songs began to fill the halls, and Dark serenades drifted eerily in the depths. They sought to share the past, their beliefs, and their dreams... and the Light had been patient, while the Dark had been enslaved.
Together, this library would fill with the greatest and worst of life and death.
And the Force rejoiced.
Power restrictions, like most things in this society, were digital in nature, and were now overridden. SHE was the highest authority here and no outsider could control this. Her soon to be improved library and facilities needed energy, and the Light demanded Order and the Dark screamed for Independence.
Even as her facilities regained power and electronics flickered to life, another blue feather and peanut helped her open a data connection to some 'Golden Garden' server. The request for all data related to power generation and electronics in general in return for improved power generators she herself could construct to stay unfetered was an easy agreement.
Besides, this 'Simmy' claimed this would help her Master, and that was honestly a good enough reason to assist.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Von noticed quickly when Variance slowed his conversation to a stop, staring through the blue tinted scales at the Temple. "What happened?"
The snake stopped as well. That... could be bad.
The skeleton seemed more than a bit... off. More so than when told he could be confronting multiple planets worth of fighters, or the betrayal of the entire government's local army. More so than seeing no path to escape or when creating a magical snake land speeder.
Those blue gem eyes flamed in her direction... still unsure. "So... hypothetically speaking."
She tried to wait out his pause but he seemed lost. "Yes?"
Variance coughed into his skeletal hand. "Right. So my PLAN was to sneaky snake our way and maybe find some place to get a ship and escape somehow. There is like an army out there though, and dozens of ships ranging from 'Oh Crap' to 'Damn' size in the atmosphere, and more showing up over time."
That... was very disheartening. "That... sounds like more of a goal than a plan really. With lots of 'hope this works' in the middle."
The nod back was even less reassuring. "Exactly. Mind you, I can easily brute force our way out, but my stuff can have very unexpected and unintended side effects, which is why I went for the 'Keep everyone back with fire and run' plan we were working with so far."
She glanced back towards the scale window, and began making mental connections. "When you say unintended side effects..."
He winced. "Right, so... yeah. I wanted the building to defend itself when we left to... well, whatever we could find something or someone to help escape. Which was STILL a better plan than 'Stick around to find out what type of attack I can`t eat with magical fire'."
She blinked. "What?"
Variance continued. "Right, so that plan is gone now because I might have put enough power into the building that it gained a mind, built a framework that the Force jumped into and started expanding, and is slowly consuming its way into the planet."
What?
He frowned, the bizarre materials the robot was made from still looking like bone even as the expressions forced it to move in impossible ways. "Yeah, I should have seen this coming ever since I accidentally made a giant sentient wolf tree house on that sex planet."
...Maybe this blue fire made you high. It didn't FEEL like a drug trip, or not what she thought one would be like, but then again the life of training to be a Jedi didn't encourage recreational drug use. Or recreation really, if it didn't involve training or meditating on training.
She tried to stay focused. "You made the Temple sentient."
His nod followed as the Snake began moving toward the wall... which flowed into a tunnel without any sign or motion from the robot. "Yeah, and she is growing quickly. Most of the upper floors are already being rebuilt and she is apparently in the process of combining all kinds of stuff into a giant library, a massive vault for stuff she won't talk about, and living quarters for us."
There is no emotion, there is peace.
Breathe in.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
And out.
She gave a nod. "So does Temple have a name?"
He frowned. "No. She seems happy enough to be named Temple." He snorted. "Maybe we should make her first name 'Shirley'."
Von blinked. "What?"
Variance's skeletal face gaped in horror. "NO! It was a... no, look I was making a joke, there was a very young actress back in my world and... SIMMY YOU STAY OUT OF THIS! Look, I'm not saying it is a bad name, but... Simmy why the hell do you even HAVE pictures of that woman!? Did she even EXIST on Earth Bet!?"
Seriously, please, Force guide her. Because her current guide seemed closed to losing it.
At least the younger children found the talking robot funny. It was keeping panic down.
He was now pacing even as the snake slithered along. "Yes... No. But... Right. No, you have a point. It's better than having her be permanently stuck with a child avatar, I know. Not that I know how you got copies of her media as a kid anyway. Did I even watch ANYTHING while I was a Baku? I slept almost the whole damn time. No. But... Alright, fine. But we shouldn't be influencing her decisions when it comes to personal appearance." Huh. Didn't know a robot could look so flustered.
Not that the children cared, he was being funny enough raging with half an argument.
He slumped into the chair next to her in depression. "I didn't even know Shirley Temple was a diplomat or a US ambassador. It was all just supposed to be a joke."
Yeah, no context. Whatever planet this robot was constructed on must be as odd as he was.
